Leukotoxin (LtxA) is a bacterial protein, an experimental therapeutic that binds leukocyte function antigen (LFA-1) on white blood cells (WBCs) and induces cell death via apoptosis or necrosis. LtxA is secreted by the oral bacterium, Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans. It has been found that LtxA preferentially targets WBCs with high levels of activated LFA-1, a characteristic of many leukemias and lymphomas.
The U.S. FDA recently issued an initiative and draft guidelines to promote the development of experimental therapeutics in combination to improve the efficacy and safety profile of cancer drug regimens because many of the standard chemotherapeutic agents are highly cytotoxic that elicit severe side effects. Thus, there remains a need to develop new cancer drugs and therapy that are less toxic and effective to treat cancer.